The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 6

(The Nous Laurens 0110100 Gray Court Cross Hill Waterloo Fountain Inn Joanna Princeton Thursday, June 27, 1985 3C mci ves oromo 56 appro tion, retention policy sory Approach to Reading and Reading Readiness Curriculum. Although the promotion requirements are rigidly spelled out, the district policy includes provisions for exceptions to the policy, he said. "Whenever you deal with children there will always be some extenuating circumstances," he said. "It's tough to set a hard and fast policy that's going to apply in all circumstances." In addition to the requirement that students maintain a passing grade average and score above the minimum requirements of tests, "students are expected to attend school regularly," the policy says. "Students with more than 10 unex- ten through fifth grade, Barrineau said in an interview.

The district adopted a promotion and retention policy in spring 1984 and the policy will become effective for all elementary grades by next spring, he said. Barrineau said elementary students each year take one standardized test and are involved in at least one other standardized academic program. To be promoted to the next grade, students must obtain certain minimum scores on either the test or in the academic program, he said. The tests used in District 56 include the Basic Skills Assessment Program, the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills and the Multi-sen cused absences as described by the attendance policy will be retained." Barrineau said the policy also lists other factors that are to be considered when retaining students. Other considerations that would permit a student to be promoted despite failure to meet the policy standards include: Physical factors.

When there is strong evidence that height, weight, andor onset of puberty along with the development of secondary sex characteristics may cause a child to receive undue attention. Health factors. When injury, illness or a traumatic experience has caused a child to miss an ex cessive number of days andor to achieve at a level below what has been typical of his or her previous school performance. Chronological age. When a child is at least two vears abov3 the norm for the grade in question, particularly when physical factors tweome involved.

Socio-emotional factors. When there is strong evidence that retention will have a devastating or debilitating effect on a child's self-concept. The policy also requires that parents be called to the school for a conference whenever their child is failing to make satisfactory progress, Barrineau said. By Chris Barrus ffhf Nm Clinton bureau would have been possible for a good student to have all failing grades and still be promoted," Barrineau told school board members at their Monday meeting. According to the revised policy approved by the school board, students can be held back no more than three times from kindergar Laurens officials close to decision on fire protection 4.

-y- Eg liiii. 1 mmm J' 1 V- i I 4 1 t- i i -f vr 1 1 vs itimmw frwwwi it. -ni-w nttmNtrtii "I i Ti ImU The News Chris Barm CLINTON Students in Laurens County District 56 elementary schools must maintain passing grades, meet minimum achievement standards and attend classes regularly to be promoted to the next grade, a district administrator said Wednesday. A revised promotion and retention policy was approved earlier this week by the District 56 school board. The main change in the policy is that students must maintain a passing grade average and cannot fail reading, math or any other two academic subjects, said David Barrineau, the district's director of elementary schools.

"Under the policy last year, it Teen-ager will be tried for murder as an adult LAURENS A 15-year-old boy will be tried as an adult on murder charges following a judicial order handed down Wednesday. Family Court Judge William Craine, of Greenwood, signed the order that will transfer the youth from Family Court to General Sessions Court. When this move is completed, the case, along with the youth's name, will become public record. Laurens County Clerk Billy Goss said the file would remain closed until she receives the order to transfer it. Eighth Circuit Solicitor W.

Townes Jones said the order was in transit from Greenwood to Laurens Wednesday, and that the file should be transferred by sometime Thursday. Jones added that the case most likely will be placed on the docket for the next term of General Sessions Court, scheduled to begin Aug. 5. The youth, who appeared in the Family Court hearing last week, has been charged with the April 6 murder of Beulah Mae Knight, 69, of Route 2, Gray Court. Before the hearing, the youth had been sent to the State Hospital in Columbia for psychiatric evaluation.

Ms. Knight, who lived alone, died from a stab wound to the back and, according to coroner's reports, had been dead from 12 to 36 hours when she was found in her kitchen by a neighbor. Sheriff's officials did not find any sign of a break-in or theft. WYFF fire damage hits $2.5 million, investigators say Sunday's fire at the WYFF-TV building in Greenville did an estimated $2.5 million damage, but broadcasting from the station was virtually back to normal Wednesday and new equipment arrived, said the station's executive news producer. David Graves said insurance investigators Tuesday estimated $2.5 million worth of news gathering equipment was damaged or destroyed in the blaze that apparently started from a faulty battery in a recharger.

Insurance adjusters still were inspecting the building Wednesday and the estimate may change, Graves said. He said the battery was recharging and apparently short-circuited. A spark caused by the short circuit started a fire "and off it went," he said. Graves said the station was broadcasting as usual except for an electrical problem that delayed Wednesday's noon show and the 11 p.m. news Tuesday.

Graves blamed the 10-minute delays on temporary electrical wiring and said the station was forced to do the Tuesday night news from the newsroom instead of the studio. New video equipment routinely ordered before Sunday's fire arrived Wednesday, G.aves said. The new equipment and cameras and recorders loaned by other tele-vision stations gave Channel 4 enough to operate as usual. The fire began at about 8 p.m. Sunday in an electrical storeroom in the back of the building at 505 Rutherford St.

The station was knocked off the air for approximately two hours and the 11 p.m. news was broadcast from the building's rearyarking lot. LAURENS Local water officials are close to reaching an agreement that will provide better fire protection at Laurens District 55 High School, which currently has no fire hydrants on the school grounds. The Rabon Creek Rural Water District, which now serves the high school from an eight-inch line, will give its water rights on the school property to the Laurens Commission of Public Works, which owns a 16-inch water line in front of the high school along U.S. 76.

That will allow the commission to build water lines onto the school grounds for fire hydrants, though the number of these hydrants is yet to be determined, said CPW Commissioner Marshall Aber-crombie. School district officials have been investigating the situation since January, when the state Fire Marshal's Office inspected ihe high school and noied the lack of fire hydrants. Slate Sen. James Bryan, of Laurens, said he found out about the problem and began coordinating discussions among the school district, the CPW and Rabon Creek. Then last month, a pile of asphalt roofing material, which had been removed from the high school during repairs, caught fire about a hundred feet away from the school.

The blaze did not threaten the school, but "this recent fire brought (the fire protection problem) to everyone's attention more," Bryan said. The closest fire hydrants to the school are in front of the property along U.S. 76. When the Laurens Fire Department fought the roofing material fire, it had to send trucks back and forth to the hydrants for water. Robert Shorn, administrative assistant to the superintendent, said the district would like to have scenic corridor proposal.

But on the City Council end, Mayor Bill Workman said Nae-gele's decision to remove the billboard probably will not influence the City Council's debate on possible changes to the billboard ordinance. "That billboard was legally erected, there's no debate about that. If that's the case then the ordinance in my judgment needs to be improved, Workman said. "We may find next week that there's another location that's legal under the present ordinance that will be equally objectionable as that." misrepresentation by management and founding families, the motion claims. Thomason said Multimedia had not planned to make the information available to Cooke's attorneys until they signed an agreement ensuring confidentiality of the material.

That matter is being handled by the company's New York attorneys and apparently the agreement has not been signed, he said. School building Frank Barnwell, a job superintendent for elementary school on Ring Road. Construction Martin Construction examines blueprints started in May and completion is scheduled for at the site of Laurens School District 56's new the fall of 1986. By Jonathan Yenkin Chf Nnis Laurens bureau two hydrants by the front of the school and another two in Ihe back. The school district asked Rabon Creek to investigate the possibility of installing lines on the school grounds, l'elton Roper, manager of the water district, said that fire hydrants could have been placed next to the school, but that fire departments could not pump water out of them or the lines could collapse.

"In case of a fire, those lives at the high school are very important," Roper said. "But we cannot jeopardize other users. If our lines collapse, then all our users are in trouble." For this reason, Roper said, Rabon Creek is willing to give up the high school as a customer. Under the agreement, which has yet to fx; approved officially by the commission of public works, the CPW not only will provide fire protection, but will take the high school as a water customer as well. With the 16 inch line, Aber-crombie said, "it wouldn't be any problem for us to have the high school as a customer." "I certainly think we would accept this agreement," he said, add ing that having the high school as a customer will help absorb the cost of installing the water lines.

The agreement also must lie approved by the Farmers Home Ad ministration, which has supplied loans for the water district's operation, Rop'-r said, adding that he did not think this would be a problem. Laurens council to discuss district LAURENS The Laurens County Council will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday to discuss a proposed fire district for the Durbin Creek Fire Department. The meeting will be held at Knighton liape) the Durbin reek area about two miles west of S.C. 101.

At a council meeting last month, a resident of the area who lives near Fountain Inn requested that the fire district not include his properly and several others that are currently served by the Fountain Inn Fire Department. So far, the council has given two readings to the ordinance. materials Also Wednesday, two more groups named in Cooke's lawsuit against Multimedia filed answers. First Manhattan Co. filed an answer and so did Jeff Tarr, Junction Partners, Risk Arbitrage Partners, Leon Levy, Jack Nash, Lester Pollack, Martin Rabino-witz, Oppenheimer Holdings Inc.

and Oppenheimer Inc. Both denied any wrongdoing in the matter. Sign's removal gets mixed reviews Kentucky child hurt in accident LAURENS A 3-year-old boy was listed in serious condition Wednesday at Greenville Memorial Hospital following an accident the day before in which he was struck by a car in Gray Court. Tony Boxton, of Fort Campbell, was in the intensive-care unit, a hospital representative said. Boxton, who was visiting relatives in Gray Court, was playing along Willis Street about 1 p.m.

when he darted into the road in front of an oncoming vehicle, said Patrolman Don Reynolds, of the state Department of Highways and Public Transportation. By Linda Perry News staff writer Naegele Outdoor Advertising Co. and Spinx Oil decision Wednesday to permanently remove a billboard on the Eastside received mixed reviews from city and county lawmakers who plan to revise the billboard ordinance. The billboard, at the corner of Haywood and Pelham roads, had been the subject of continued public frustration over the last month. Some Eastside residents have called the sign an eyesore.

The joint Naegele and Spinx decision to remove the sign is a lawsuit against the company. Cooke attempted to block Mul-timedia's proposed recapitalization plan with a court order, but last week Circuit Judge C. Victor Pyle Jr. ruled in favor of the company. Pending SEC approval of its proxy statement, Multimedia officials have said they hope to take their restructuring plan to stockholders for a vote in August.

Greenville lawyer B.O. positive signal, said Greenville County Councilman Bob Leach during an interview Wednesday. Leach was present for the announcement Wednesday. Leach said County Council Chairman Paul Greer asked him Wednesday to be chairman of a billboard committee for the council. "What I'd love to do first is have some public hearings before we even start on the ordinance, then all concerned can speak their views," Leach said.

Leach said he plans to have his committee study both the billboard ordinance and the "Tommv" Thomason, who repre sents Multimedia's management, said Wednesday that Cooke's motion is routine in such cases. Thomason said he had not been served with a copy. Cooke's attorneys are researching their case against Multimedia by taking depositions and gathering information. The proxy material requested "strikes at the heart of (Cooke's) allegations of impropriety" and Cooke says he needs Multimedia proxy By Paul Martin Newt staff writer Jack Kent Cooke filed papers Wednesday asking a circuit judge to order Multimedia Inc. to produce all proxy materials it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cooke, whose attempts to buy Multimedia have been rejected twice by the company's board of directors, says he needs the material to prepare his case in his.